The Quotable Robertson Davies: The Wit and Wisdom of the Master Tapa dura - 2005

Family

Who really knows his father, or his mother? In our personal dramas they play older, supporting roles, and we are always centre stage, in the limelight.
— (Conor Gilmartin, narr.) Murther & Walking Spirits

One’s family is made up of supporting players in one’s personal drama. One never supposes that they starred in some possibly gaudy and certainly deeply felt show of their own. — (Hugh McWearie) Murther & Walking Spirits

Nobody is so ready to belittle you as your own family.
— (Apollo) A Masque of Aesop



Fashions

Nothing grows old-­fashioned so fast as modernity.
— High Spirits

There are fashions in anxiety and even in degradation.
— A Voice from the Attic



Fate

The condition of a vulgarian is that he never expects anything good or bad that happens to him to be the result of his own personality; he always thinks it’s Fate, especially if it’s bad. The only people who make any sense in the world are those who know that whatever happens to them has its roots in what they are. — (Solomon Bridgetower) Tempest-­Tost

A man’s fate is his own, more than he knows. We attract what we are. — The Lyre of Orpheus

If you ­don’t drink your tea while it’s hot, you may expect a cold fortune. — (Benoni Richards) A Jig for the Gypsy

There is no armour against Fate. — One Half of Robertson Davies

Alas, how puny are our best efforts to avert a foreordained event! — One Half of Robertson Davies

One must not quarrel with one’s fate.
— The Table Talk of Samuel Marchbanks

Prophecy consists of carefully bathing the inevitable in the eerie light of the impossible, and then being the first to announce it. — Samuel Marchbanks’ Almanack

Friendship

Many fine things are written about friendship, and there’s a general superstition that everybody is capable of friendship, and gets it, like love. But lots of people never know love, except quite mildly; and most of them never know friendship, except in quite a superficial way. Terribly demanding thing, friendship. Most of us have to put up with acquaintanceship. — (Sir Benedict Domdaniel) A Mixture of Frailties

He’s an old friend. And we ­don’t always choose our old friends, you know; sometimes we’re just landed with them. — (Professor Clement Hollier) The Rebel Angels



Genius

Geniuses are not people to make a woman happy.
— (Amy Nelson) A Mixture of Frailties

He was a genius — that is to say, a man who does superlatively and without obvious effort something that most people cannot do by the uttermost exertion of their abilities. — (Dunstan Ramsay, narr.) Fifth Business


Genius is the only true aristocracy.
— (Dr. Gunilla Dahl-­Soot) The Lyre of Orpheus

Good taste is, after all, a thing that any donkey can learn; the effects of genius are not so easily mastered.
— Renown at Stratford



Guilt

A recognition of the guilt in oneself is a necessity to psychological wholeness — not goodness, but wholeness, which is a larger concept. And the ambiguity of guilt — the apparent good deed that brings an evil consequence, and the seeming evil deed that bears good fruit — presents a philosophical problem that few of us are able to meet and vanquish. — The Mirror of Nature

Hypocrisy is fertile soil for guilt. — The Mirror of Nature



Happiness

Happiness. It is a catlike emotion; if you try to coax it, happiness will avoid you, but if you pay no attention to it, it will rub against your legs and spring unbidden into your lap. Forget happiness, and pin your hopes on understanding.
— One Half of Robertson Davies

Happiness often gives an effect of shallowness.
— A Voice from the Attic

Unhappiness of the kind that is recognized and examined and brooded over is a spiritual luxury.
— (Magnus Eisengrim, narr.) World of Wonders

Robertson Davies (1913--1995) was one of Canada's most distinguished men of letters, with over thirty books to his credit. He achieved worldwide fame with "Fifth Business," "The Manticore," and "World of Wonders" and with his five later novels, "The Rebel Angels," "What's Bred in the Bone," "The Lyre of Orpheus," "Murther and Walking Spirits," and "The Cunning Man."
James Channing Shaw is a lifelong admirer of the works of Robertson Davies. He teaches at the University of Toronto, and is publishing this selection with the help of the Davies family.